Design Unit: Our Services

Design Unit have a wealth of experience in the design and manufacture of bespoke test rigs. In addition to the operation and maintenance of our own suite of test machines, we have also provided a range of solutions to the wider industry. All our machines have robust mechanical design. They all use sophisticated instrumentation and control to ensure that they are fit for purpose.

Some examples of test rigs

Back-to-back (power recirculating) gear test rigs

These rigs are in both 91.5mm and 160mm centre distance.

In house, they are typically used for gear fatigue testing but are also suited to material and lubrication research and testing. They are characterised by the use of servo-hydraulic control of test torque. This allows variation of the applied torque throughout testing. It includes two test gearboxes rather than a single test and coupled 'slave' gearbox.

Marine Gear Research Rig (MGRR)

This rig was built using MOD(N) funding. It investigates noise excitation of marine sized gears at tooth contact frequency and associated harmonics. The MGRR can recirculate up to 8MW of power with test torques up to 15000Nm and speeds up to 5500rpm.

Bearing Test Rig (BTR)

This rig is capable of high load testing of rolling element bearings. Further configurations allow full-scale testing of journal bearings. The BTR is able to apply radial loads of up to 3500 kN. It logs crucial test parameters such as vibration, torque to turn, temperature and power.

Torsional fatigue Test Rigs (TTR)

These machines can apply torques of up to +/-12kNm at up to 5Hz. They are ideal for coupling and shaft tests. They monitor component condition using high accuracy laser displacement probes.

Other rigs

We have also developed other test rigs to cover research topics such as:

• efficiency measurement
• driveshaft life testing
• coupling performance
• gear wear tests
• disc tests